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Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Red Arrows jet has crashed at Wales RAF base, MoD confirms

A Red Arrows jet has crashed in Wales at an RAF base, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

The Hawk aircraft crashed at the air base on Anglesey Island in north Wales.

Photos purporting to be of the scene showed a large cloud of smoke exploding from the ground, reaching dozens of metres high.

The pilot's condition is not yet known.

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The Welsh Ambulance Service said it was called shortly before 1.30pm on Tuesday to reports an aircraft had crashed at RAF Valley in Holyhead.

A spokesman said they sent an emergency ambulance to the scene and Wales Air Ambulance was also in attendance.

Sky News Defence Correspondent Alistair Bunkall said it is believed the aircraft was a two person plane.

An eyewitness said they saw someone parachute form the plane just before it crashed.

Sian Williams told the Daily Post: "I was sat at Rhosneigr train station waiting for the train and you can see the airfield from there.

"I was watching the Red Arrow flying because you hardly ever see them and then it looked like it was about to land then next thing I saw was the parachute and then the plane hit the runway and went up in flames."

The RAF is asking anybody with photographs of the incident to send them in to help with an investigation.